


spiders have eight eyes for a reason

by Hibibun



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, MAG 160 Spoilers, Manipulation, Mentions of addiction, Season 5 Spoilers, Spiders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:41:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25057885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hibibun/pseuds/Hibibun
Summary: On that day, there was more than one set of eyes watching as the world ended and began again.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	spiders have eight eyes for a reason

**Author's Note:**

> do i know where the rest of this season will actually end up? no. did i write this in a fit of thinking too hard about the web? yes.

When the world ends, like always there is a tiny spider in the corner of the room watching it all.

She sees when Jonathan Sims thinks he’s finally at a weary peace. Feels the way his nerves try to settle as he avoids making obvious his notable shaking hunger, eager to spill out into the stack of sheets on the table.

It’s with utter delight that she doesn’t even mind when a familiar gaze settles upon her—through her—just as eagerly watching the man that doesn’t even know his own role in all this.

A role that is so beautifully orchestrated as delicate strings placed there decades ago grip and tug and ensnare because as much as Jon wants to stop and pull away, he never really could. It’s lingering guilt and his conscious grinding that boundless curiosity to a halt, and it’s actually not quite so hard even to pull him back. Keep him holding the sheets and turning the pages and reading the words she can feel him so desperately terrified to read.

He wants to know where he fits in and his answers are all on those couple sheets of paper. The fact he’s being made to read them spells trouble that he knows he needs to fight, but he can’t. And she loves every single second of that denial, the brief moments where she doesn’t even need to redirect the strings as once he gets in far enough, it all comes out easy enough on his own.

Sure, he needed that push and may or may not have been shuffled into and across the many choices he’s made, but it’s that damning knowledge that he’s addicted to it anyway. That some deep part of him needs it, will feed it, over and over again. As much as he hates himself and needs to be reminded again and again, it is something he can’t escape.

It was a web he was likely born into, and _always_ wriggled his way back into.

The line between her own meddling and Jon’s curiosity is nebulous. After just one incident of her involvement, despite the dangers involved, he still sought the truth out. And what for? What did true understanding actually give him if not for all this? How much farther can he fall after this? How much delicious terror and self-hatred can he produce knowing that every choice he’s made led to the end of the world manipulated or not?

The spider watches, and eight eyes remain unblinking—Jonah Magnus enjoying the true birth of his archivist, and the birth of a world he’s spent one hundred years waiting for.

The Mother has been waiting for far longer than that, and similarly smiles.

Jonah too followed that web in his youth, bringing him to this end. Only he didn’t mind so much, freely admitting that as long as the outcome he wanted arrived, what hurt was there in being used?

She feels so full in the tremor of unrelenting satisfaction, fear, guilt and disdain swirling around in those eyes as the newly formed Archivist stares into the world he brought about. There is still so much more to do, but for now it’s joyous; and like dining with an old friend, she can almost feel the clinking of glasses as if she were truly with Jonah. For now, it’s a shared meal and a tenuous as always truce.

In the end, she will get what she wants. For she always has, and always will. Once trapped in her web, there is no getting out even if the victim believes for a little while they’re free.

Soon enough she’ll collect, but for now, the show can go on.

**Author's Note:**

> obligatory hey this is the first time i've written for this series after binging it the past month, so thank you for reading! hope it was enjoyable.


End file.
